Eat, bid at auction Saturday

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 11:44 AMFeb 6, 2013 at 11:46 AM

Luke Smucker

About 90 percent of Pontiac Township High School’s FFA program budget comes from the annual FFA Auction, which is scheduled to take place Saturday in the high school commons and auditorium. A $5 ribeye sandwich or pork chop sandwich dinner will be served starting at 4 p.m. with the silent auction beginning at that time as well. The chapter will be auctioning various items that have been donated by area businesses beginning at 6 p.m.“We have some one-time donations throughout the year, but as grateful as we are for those opportunities, the lion’s share of our money comes from the auction,” said PTHS agriculture teacher and FFA adviser Jesse Faber. “We are very proud of the pork chops and the ribeye sandwiches that we serve and Peg Meyer and her staff do a great job with the rest of it. So, it’s a full meal with everything for $5 and if you want to bring the kids out, they will eat for $1 each.”As a chapter, Faber said the Pontiac FFA offers many ongoing extensive programs to their members. Right now, the chapter is in one of its busiest times of the year. If preparing for the meal and auction weren’t enough, in the next couple of weeks, students will also begin applying for different competitions and awards based on individual projects they’ve kept throughout the year called Supervised Agriculture Experience projects. They also have chapter competitions and career development events, which focus on developing leadership and agricultural skills.“Talking specifically about our cash flow, when it comes right down to it, our FFA chapter has around 200 members in the high school. At last month’s meeting, around 90 students attended our voluntary business meeting,” said Faber. “Having that many students volunteer to be at a meeting, we think that’s pretty outstanding.”One of the most expensive trips for the chapter is the National FFA Convention which the chapter attends each fall. Held in Indianapolis, Ind., last year, the event will return to Louisville, Ky., this fall and Faber estimated that all costs considered — including transportation, lodging, registration and the other costs at the event itself — the chapter spends a total of anywhere between $11,000 and $12,000. “We do ask that they (students) provide a $75 fee,” said Faber. “Our national convention is five figures for us to take our group and we picked up the majority of that cost through auction money.”There are many other events for students to take part in throughout the year and Faber said he thinks of the FFA chapter’s available opportunities for students like a buffet table. Although they provide the opportunity for kids to engage themselves in many events, they are only asked to attend what they wish. For some students, it’s everything and for others, it may be only a few specific things.“Either way, it’s there for them to partake in, said Faber. “As soon as those new members come in next fall, we’ll be having chapter meetings and going to leadership conferences paid for with FFA Auction donations — this auction is for everybody, not just the current FFA members.”One FFA member who is extremely excited about the auction is PTHS senior Mitch Miller. In the past few weeks, Miller has been contacting area businesses for auction item donations, placing signs for the auction around town and is anticipating taking bids during the live auction portion of the event. “I think people come for different reasons,” said Miller. ”The meal is really good, really inexpensive and a lot of people love it. They can also come in for the auction and I think it’s a lot of fun. We have a lot of great supporters and it’s the one night of the year we ask everyone to come in and help us out. We’ll have anything from hats to what I think is one of the coolest items, a TV from Toshiba.”Faber said the event will have something for everyone from baked goods, homemade pies, Chicago Bears tickets, St. Louis Cardinals baseball tickets, night stays at different hotels and resorts and other tickets and dinners provided by businesses around the county. He also said there will be more practical donations, like loads of rock, and a quarter of beef ready for processing. “So whoever buys that will be able to tell the Chenoa Locker what steaks and roasts they want to come out of that,” said Faber. “Depending on the carcass, it should be a couple hundred pounds of beef.”As a teacher, Faber said what impresses him most about the event is the chance to watch his students invest their personal time and effort to make this possible. “One of the greatest joys for me is to be able to observe the leadership, kids stepping out of their comfort zones and doing the work, as well as a great group of adult volunteers,” said Faber. “One thing that should be evident to anyone who comes to support the auction in any way is just how much of this is driven by the students and adult volunteers working side-by-side. I encourage everybody to come out.”A full list of our auction items, along with credit to the companies that donated them, is available on Pontiac FFA’s website, pontiacffa.org.